Effort, Participation, and Completion Grades Are Important Tools
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder makes the case for using effort, participation, and completion grades as accountability tools that ensure students do the work necessary for learning.
Key Takeaways
- These grades ensure students do the work - Without accountability for effort and participation, many students won't engage with the learning process
- Mastery requires practice - Students can't demonstrate mastery if they never complete the practice assignments that build understanding
- Don't let perfect be the enemy of good - Standards-based purists who reject all non-mastery grades ignore the reality that students need motivation to do the work
Transcript
I think effort grades are okay.
I think participation grades are okay.
I think completion grades are okay.
But a lot of people today would disagree with me because they believe that grades should only reflect mastery.
They should only reflect like actual measured learning in accordance with the standards.
And I fully agree.
that curriculum should be standards-based, that assessments should be standards-based, like we should base everything on standards, but grades can be a little bit of an exception.
Grades do not have to be strictly a reflection of the standards.
They should simply be directionally aligned, right?
We should give grades for things that move kids in the right direction, even if they don't result in mastery, right?
Like when you're still practicing, when you're still learning how to solve a certain kind of problem, when you're still getting familiar with a new song in band, you shouldn't have to have mastery yet to get the grade if you are applying the right effort like that's the kind of feedback kids need when they're still working on something they need feedback about their efforts and grades are an important form of feedback and sometimes that feedback is simply you're doing great or sometimes that feedback is you need to try harder it is totally okay to give grades for effort and for trying hard enough.
And I think the idea that because we have standards, we can't give grades for anything but mastery of the standards.
Like I think that idea is just off base and it takes away a tool that we need to give students that feedback about their effort.
And it's really pretty discouraging as a student to get feedback in the form of a grade that says not good enough when you know and your teacher knows and you know that your teacher knows that you're still working on it.
Let me know what you think.